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Neither Mike Bohn, the athletic director at the University of Cincinnati, nor Greg Christopher, the AD at Xavier, were in their respective jobs back on Dec. 8, 2011 when the brawl between the Bearcats and Musketeers took place at XU's Cintas Center, but both have seen it on TV and like the rest of the country were appalled by what they saw.

"It was a part of our history that we never want to repeat," Bohn said.

Two and a half years later, both athletic directors are confident that the game can be played without incident on their respective campuses after two seasons in which it was moved to a neutral court downtown at U.S. Bank Arena in an attempt to cool the rivalries' flames.

They appeared together Monday afternoon at a news conference at a downtown Skyline Chili to announce that next season's Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout will return to the campuses where it had been played for 25 straight years before the fight occurred.

The 2014-15 game will be played on Feb. 18 at Fifth Third Arena and will be televised on ESPN2 as part of that network's Rivalry Week. The following year it will be played Dec. 12 at Cintas Center, with FOX Sports owning the television rights. The game will alternate between the two campus sites as part of a 10-year agreement. It will also become part of both teams' season ticket packages.

"The key point from my perspective was to keep this series going and lock it in long-term, which is why 10 years was important or at least something long-term," Christopher said. "Let's take it off the table and stop talking about it. The passion, the energy of having students at the game, that's so important at a lot of levels, and we're thrilled to bring it back to campus. It's the right thing to do for this series moving forward."

After the fight, the name of the game was changed from Crosstown Shootout to Crosstown Classic, but now has returned to the name that has long been associated with the rivalry.

"It just feels right," Bohn said. "There's some equity there and I believe it's important to take advantage of as many opportunities for momentum as we have. There's great history associated with some terrific games. I'm well aware of the other challenge that we have but we're moving past that."

UC coach Mick Cronin has been outspoken about his desire to keep the game on a neutral court while XU coach Chris Mack has preferred the game to be played on campus but Cronin said he now supports the move back to campus. Neither coach attended the news conference, but Cronin said in a text message that he wanted to thank U.S. Bank Arena for hosting the game the past two years.

"As far as where we play any game, it is my opinion that we should do what is best for our program and our fans," Cronin said. "Season ticket holders and students are our biggest supporters and playing on campus is clearly in the best interest of both parties. Therefore, I believe we owe them to try to play on campus.

"I do have many concerns about fan behavior and basic decorum in this rivalry. I have and will continue to voice them to our administrators. I believe we have to be honest about the severity of some stuff that has gone on and eventually permeates to the teams. To me, this is more important than where the game is played. That said, I am in support of the move to campus and thank my administration for the time they have dedicated to getting this game back on track."

Calling the game "one of the best if not the best rivalries in the country," Mack said late Monday night that he's "glad the game is returning to the normalcy of how it's always been played."

"At least on our campus," he said, "some of the better memories for our students were from camping out the night before the Shootout."

Mack said he's confident there will not be a repeat of the brawl when the game returns to campus.

"I think the experience that happened a few years ago was one that everyone learned from," he said. "When it was played at a neutral site downtown there were no issues, or if there were, they were very minor and weren't highly publicized."

The game will include what Christopher called a sportsmanship element and said the tone set by the athletic directors along with UC president Santa Ono and XU president Fr. Michael Graham will help ensure that there are no further incidents like the one that occurred in 2011.

"That's not healthy for either institution," Christopher said. "That's not healthy for college basketball. It's not what you want to see. The sportsmanship prong has to be real and not just something we're saying."